Thanks net galley for an advanced copy of this book. An enjoyable read which highlights a journey of self discovery through the highs and lows and how circumstances, people and places can have a dramatic effect on ones life and the difference between failure and success in both ones personal and working life

I loved, loved, loved this book its fun, quirky and show how the world of writing is pure agony. The cover is what made me want to read this novel its so fun and funny and boy it didn't disappoint. The bases of the story is Sara the daughters of a best selling author, finds out she is willed to finish the fifth and final novel, of a very successful detective series, after her mother death. Not having ever sold a book before and believing she is a complete failure at writing, she goes through the process of writing the novel and from there the story is nothing short of a great ride through the perils of creating a novel. Through the process of writing the novel she finds herself, she finds love and she learns how to go for the gusto and create from the heart which is what all good writers do.
If you are looking for a great inspiring and wonderful story this is it and you will sigh at the end.
Did I say I loved this story. I also love the quotations from other authors about how they feel about the work of being a writer. There quite thoughtful.

I want to thank Meryl Moss Media, Post Hill Press and NetGalley for this fabulous book.

This is a story about writing, and I loved all the quotes about writing at the start of each chapter. It is also a book about family, and love, and personal growth. Sara is tasked with writing a book in her late mother's famous series. The process is challenging and does not go smoothly, as would be expected. There is an interesting backstory about her parents' early careers, romantic ties, and a series of characters that are interconnected in real-world ways making for a richer storyline. I enjoyed the character growth and cared about what happened to everyone. I liked Nik's poetry that he shares with Sara as part of the storyline. Overall, a light read with depth and warmth.


'There were times to avoid your triggers and times to chew them up slowly and deliberately..'

'It was a smashing tribute to someone who didn't actually exist.'

'Sara had never seen Phil in socks. Maybe he would have been less intimidating all these years if she'd seen him in socks. Even Mussolini was probably less menacing in socks.'

'Years of aggressive frowning had carved deep ridges between Phil's brows,...'

'It tasted like not being alone.'

Thank you to Post Hill Press and NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a charming love letter to writing and writers.

Sara Grayson's mother dies before writing the final book of her hit series. In her will, she specifies that Sara is to be the author of the highly anticipated book. The problem - Sara has never published, and she's only written one manuscript, which never made it to fruition. The book follows Sara's journey from reluctant appointee to rediscovering her love of writing and creating.

Sweet, emotional, earned, I enjoyed it. 3.5. Why didn't I round up to 4? A few reasons. The "mystery" of Sara's family was largely unnecessary and the pacing related to it and any romance-related subplot was uneven and odd at times. Actually, I could have done without the romantic subplot at all. The protagonist goes through the struggle of SO MANY rewrites (loved the peek into the writing and editing process), while ironically, with a little more revision, I could easily see this as a five-star read.

As an aside, I particularly loved the quotes from writers on writing at the beginning of the process. I'm not usually a fan of quotes at the beginning of chapters, but these ones were curated perfectly and I found myself highlighting basically every one.

The Audacity of Sara Grayson by Joani Elliott
Pub Date: May 25 2021
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sara Grayson's mom, a very popular and well known author, dies unexpectedly and leaves sara to finish the conclusion of her best selling book series. Although it was always her dream, sara never published her own book. But as she is thrown into the world of writing, she not only "finds the words", she finds herself.

This book was filled with sadness, laughter, love, loss and a little bit of mystery. I found myself anticipating each word.

I loved this book and feel so lucky I was able to read it.
Thank you netgalley for gifting me an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Audacity of Sara Grayson is a fun easy read. It has humor, romance, mystery and family issues all rolled into one book.
The book is about 32-year-old Sara Grayson. Sara’s mom, Cassandra Bond, is a famous author. When Cassandra passes away, she tasks Sara with finishing the 5th book in her series.
In writing the 5th book, Sara meets new people and starts to realize a few things good and bad about herself and her family. She realized that she was just going day to day in her life and not really living her life. It opened her eyes to all kinds of things around her.
I loved all of characters as they were all well developed.
Really liked and enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to everyone to read.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

So much to love about this book! There is a sweet romance, an intriguing mystery, a touch of humor, and (mainly) the story of a very relatable young woman who has not been living life to the fullest, but finds herself in a situation where she must expand her horizons. Her mother, a famous novelist, dies of cancer. It is her dying wish that Sara Grayson write her last unfinished novel. Sara reluctantly accepts this challenge, and her path is not an easy one. There are obstacles everywhere, but she perseveres. Very appealing characters and a story that is full of surprises.

The Audacity of Sara Grayson is a five-star winner of a book! I was lucky enough to be on a plane and had hours and hours to keep reading and did not get bored for one minute!

Sara is a young woman who has had some difficulty in life, i.e., divorce and mom dies suddenly. (Mom had been a hugely popular author.) Sara's already depressed when she learns that her mother's dying wish is for her to complete Mom's series of books. Although she's not keen to take on the project, she agrees to take a crack at it. All the events that come next change Sara in ways she could not have imagined.

This is an uplifting book, and I really enjoyed it. I will be looking for more from this author in the future. I especially liked the quotes about writing at the beginning of each chapter. For anyone who is an aspiring writer, they need to grab this book just for those quotes!

Thank you so much to the publisher and Net Galley for a free e-book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a mystery, romance, and family legacy all tied up together. I loved the story and the characters. this is a great beach read or a rain day.

I expected this book to be mostly fluff and relationship drama. I was pleasantly surprised.

Instead, the majority of the book tells of Sara grappling with actually authoring the book her mother charged her with (an interesting novel about novel writing). And through that process, Sara finds herself, her place in life and the world, and the stories of her family and her parents and their lives. Along the way, she finds a significant other who delightfully fits the niches of Sara's life and fulfills her in ways she didn't expect.

The book is well-written, appropriately humorous, and the main characters are substantial and well-developed. Again, I expected more superficial characters (was it the bunny slippers on the cover that caused me to underestimate this wonderful surprise of a book?). Author Elliott successfully proved me wrong. There was significant depth of emotion and relationships in this read.

I found the first quarter of the book slow to start (perhaps my mistaken expectations). But I quickly engaged with Sara and her family and her challenges, enjoying the humor along the way and the evocative settings and developments further in the book.

Meryl Moss Media / Post Hill Press have this slated for release on May 25, 2021. This will be a reliable pleasure to read.

I enjoyed reading this book. It's funny, heartwarming, uplifting, and a feel-good book. I love the premise and the characters were very relatable. I love that each chapter starts with inspiring quotes from famous authors. It's one of my best reads this 2021. It's well-written, romantic, and very engaging until the end.

It's about Sara, a thirty-two-year-old greeting card writer, and a university lecturer, who was assigned to write the last book of her mom's best-selling series. With no experience as a fiction writer, Sara took the biggest challenge of her life to fulfill her mom's dying wish.

If you love a story about family, hope, friendship, romance, and self-empowerment, I would definitely recommend this book to you. This is one of those books that will surely inspire you to be brave and make bold decisions in life.

I'm so grateful to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this amazing book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The first thing that drew me to this book was the title and the cover. Once I read the synopsis, I was ready to read! The Audacity of Sara Grayson features coupon writer, Sara Grayson, and the aftermath of her mother's death. You see, Sara's mom was no other than Cassandra Bond, the famous author of the Ellery Dawson series. Upon reading a final piece of Cassandra's will, Sara learns that her mother has requested that she write the final novel in the series. What?!?!?

I loved the journey that the main character, Sara, took during this story. I really enjoyed the "behind the scenes" information on novel writing. I've always dreamed of being an author, so that part was fun for me! The writing flowed very well throughout the whole book. I also liked that the romance was a realistic, slow burn and not super cheesy. Characters felt realistically flawed. The pacing of this book was perfect. It was an enjoyable read overall.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC and give my honest review.

Wow, what an amazing read!! I’m always a sucker for books about books or writers & this one definitely did not disappoint!! A little cutsier than I normally read but I found that I didn’t mind the rom-com element either since it was also filled with mystery & even a few surprises I didn’t see coming!! I’ll definitely be recommending this one far & wide!!

There's a quote from Nora Ephron at the beginning of Chapter 33 that says, "You better make them care about what you think. It had better be quirky or perverse or thoughtful enough so that you hit some chord in them. Otherwise it doesn't work. I mean we've all read pieces where we thought, 'Oh, who gives a damn.'" That quote couldn't sum up "The Audacity of Sara Grayson" better if it tried.

Sure there were moments in this story where I was touched. But it was a struggle to get to each one and the slog in between those moments had me sitting firmly in the "who gives a damn" camp for the majority of the novel. It's a shame. For a book that had so much promise in the description, it was clunky and tiresome in its delivery.

** I was granted an ARC of this book via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest opinion. **

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced readers copy of The Audacity of Sara Grayson.

Sara’s mother, a bestselling author, dies unexpectedly (to Sara and her sister Anna-Kath ) after a short battle of cancer. The book series she was writing is unfinished. In her will, Sara’s mother wishes for her to finish the series and write book 5.

Sara is a 32 year old, recently divorced teacher and dog mom, who doesn’t think she has it in her to write the book. Throughout the book and on her journey of writing she finds out family “secrets”, a little romance and the writer/story within her.

There were a few parts that were dragging a bit and it took me a while to get into the story, but all in all I enjoyed this book.

The AUDACITY of Sara's mother to ask her to finish her beloved series after her death. No pressure as 15 million fans await the conclusion to this blockbuster book series, and its subsequent movie. Riddled with zero confidence, Sara braces herself for the task at hand - WRITE THE BOOK.

The Audacity of Sara Grayson is an endearing tale of the love for family in life and death. It also teaches us that fear can be asset and when we open our eyes the truth we believe can be different. Sara finds the strength to live boldly or as we read - MAN UP!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the romance that unfolds with Nik. Together, they are to perfect compliment to each other with their love of literature and writing.

Thank you NetGalley and Meryl Moss Media/Post Hill Press for a complimentary copy for an honest review.

This book made me wonder if I had it in me. Am I going to discover one day that "I have words"? Did I give up too soon?
But, unlike me (just wondering out here), Sara Grayson struggles with her legacy (finishing what her mother started), with finding her own voice, with not letting anyone down, with deadlines. She needs a lot of courage and grit and a lot of support. It's interesting how everyone close to Sara believes in her (except herself) and how discovering her family secrets helps her in her writing process, in shaping her character's destiny. Are we to read author's grapples with her own writing between the lines or is this a general process, as the quotes suggest?
I'm looking forward to reading more books written by Joani Elliot.

Such a charming read with a special appeal to anyone who aspires to write. The story deals a lot with the creative process, its loneliness and self doubt and the sheer amount of grit it demands. Sara Grayson at the beginning of the book is at a pinnacle low in her life. Recently divorced the thirty-two-year-old Sara teaches freshmen English at the University of Maryland and dabbles in writing greeting cards and discount coupons on the side, her mother just passed away, asking Sara to write the final book in a best seller series that has a substantial following.

Sara is a heroine that is easy to root for, she has justifiable reasons to wallow in self pity but she picks herself up and decides to give the book a go. Along the way she will forge new relationships and uncover family secrets but most importantly find her own voice. Sara's self deprecating humor gave the story a lot of heart. And although the plot felt a little predictable, I really enjoyed the scenery along the way. And I adored the writing related quotes at the beginning of each chapter.

It reminded me a bit of Love and the Art of War as well as Kristan Higgins' writing. All in all I highly recommend.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #TheAudacityofSaraGrayson #NetGalley

This book is so interested but unreadable in the format given by the publisher. From what I could muddle through and read -- pleasant characters and a great book about writing and novelists and family secrets.

I really really really like it.. I can write it a few more times. I am so happy I could read this story of the audacity. I felt a litlle downand the story bring me up. It shows how important is to belive in our selfes no matter what. There are so many good quotes before every chapter. Incoraging the author and the reader to continue fighting and never let go.

We get to know Sara and her sister when her mother die and her last wish is that Sara writes a fifth book of her last serie of best sellers. Her mother was one of the most popular authors and for Sara is a big shock and she is not happy about the situation. We learn all about her past, divorce and her relationship with his father that was her inspiration. But who also died.

Sara in the end accept to write but there are many obstacules. Luckily she met some people who can trast and help her on this writing process. And she manage to resolve everything and.. I can not tell all.

This novel tooked me and I could not put it down. Really many mistery involved and some twists, romance. All together made a great great story.